
Qass. 
Book. 



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THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. 

A SERMON U <* u 

DEhlVEJiUli /JV Till; COURT HOI SIC I\ II II.I.l.JMSPOUT. 

ON SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 1865. 



Bulletin" Print. Third street . 




THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. 



J± SERMOIST 

DELIVERED IX THE COURT HOUSE IX WDLLIAM8PORT, 

BY REV. WILLIAM STERLING, 
ON SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 1865. 



Know ye not ih.it there is a prince and a great man (alien this day in Israel?— 2d Samuel— 3d: 3S. 



Tins is the lamentation of David over the 
murdered A.bner, who fell by the treacher- 
ous hand of Joub. It was a bloody assas- 
sination of a "prince and a preat man;" 
and just at a moment, too, when he was ex- 
erting all ln's influence to restore peace to 
the kingdom, and to bring to an cud a 
rebellion which had lasted for eighl years. 
The pious King was horror-stricken by the 
fearful tragedy, and the monarch and all the 
people wept as they followed the slaughtered 
chieftain to the urave. 

There are some events, which break upon 
upon us, like a cl-ap of thunder in a clear 
sky. They stun us. The shock is so sudden 
— so unexpected, that our faculties are par- 
alyzed. We are bewildered. Our mouths 
are shut. The power of thought and feel- 
ing is almost suspended. We want time 
for reflection, for tears, for prayer, for our 
shattered powers to recover from the dread- 
ful blow, before we aTe capable of fully 
comprehending them in their causes and 
their consequences. Such an event is that 
awful tragedy, which has occurred at our 
Nation's Capitol — the murder of our belov- 
ed President, as well as the attempt to 
assassinate the Secretary of State and those 
by whom he was surrounded on his bed of 
sickness. 



The Nation was, at the moment, dreading 
no evil. On the contrary, every loyal heart 
was bounding with unutterable joy. Lee and 
his army were capturnd, and the Capitol of 
the Confederacy was in our hands. Victory 
was crowning our arms in every quarter — 
the rebellion was melting away. After 
four long years of war, and blood, and tears, 
and woe, the dove of peaee seemed ready to 
descend upon us. The whole land was jubi- 
lant The national emblems everywhere 
floated proudly and gaily in the breeze, and 
everywhere were heard the sounds of glad- 
ness and of thanksgiving to God. And 
peculiarly was that fourteenth day of the 
month a proud and happy day; for that day 
the Flag again floated over Sumpter, eleva- 
ted with appropriate honors; and the boom- 
ing cannon, from all our national ships, and 
forts, and camps, proclaimed the exultant, 
joyous feelings that bounded through the 
Nation's heart. 

It was at such a time, and under such cir- 
cumstances, that the murderer sought his 
victim. In a moment the hellish deed was 
done. Abraham Lincoln lies weltering ia 
his blood. "A prince and a great man has 
fallen ;" one on whom the affections and the 
hopes of a great people were centered, lies 
speechless and insensible. Those wires, 






which for months had been the bearers of 
nought but glad tidings, suddenly change 
to awful tones. A Nation's ear is palsied, 
and its blood stands still, and its pulse 
ceases to beat, as the fearful news flashes 
from city to city, and from State to State — 
President, Lincoln is Murdered. lie is 
shot through the head. The ball has en- 
tered his bruin. He lies speechless and 
insensible. He is dying. He is dead. 

I. Let me speak of the greatness of this 
national affliction. "A pr.nse and a great 
man has fallen ;" one whose pure morality 
and tried integrity, whose private virtues 
and public usefulness entitled him to the 
respect and confidence of the Nation over 
which he had been called a second time to 
preside. 

President Lincoln' was an honest man. — 
His integrity was above suspicion. Never 
was there, since the days of Washington, a 
public man more wholly free from all guile 
and trickery and double-dealing. He had 
no low, selfish ends to answer. He was a 
man of truth, and of the utmost transpa- 
rency of character. With him there was 
no concealment of his real opinions and 
ends. He left no doubt in any mind as to 
where he stood, and what his course would 
be, on any of the momentous questions with 
which he had to deal. 

He was a man of great kindness of heart. 
He was not only genial and conciliatory 
among his friends, but he cherished no en- 
mity toward his foes. lie sympathized 
deeply with the sick and wounded soldiers, 
visiting them in the hospitals, and saying a 
kind word to cheer and comfort them under 
their sufferings. And he even endeavored 
to win back the bitterest enemies of the 
Government to their allegiance by gentle- 
ness and forgiveness. 

He was a man of strong native intellect, 
)\'.> scholarship was not profound and com- 
prehensive, like that of John Quincy Adams, 
nor was he much conversant witli cleg! nt 
literature. His early opportunies for mental 
improvement were limited. But he was a 



man of excellent sense and judgment. Nor 
was he deficient in any of those branches of 
knowledge essential to the proper discharge 
of his duties. He was an able President. 
He was sometimes slow in coming to a decis- 
ion ; but when his mind was made up, he 
was firm as a rock ; and his reasons were so 
clear, and cogent, and convincing, that he 
usually produced the conviction in the mind 
of the people that he was right in his posi- 
tion. 

His manners were plain and simple, his 
disposition frank and cheerful, and his life a 
pattern of moral virtue. But, beyond all 
this, I think the evidence strong that/ie was 
a pious man. And here I must in candor 
say, that there are two things greatly to be 
regreted in regard to him. One is, his occa- 
sional visit to the theatre. And yet I sup- 
pose it is difficult for us to understand the 
influences by which be was surrounded, and 
by which he was drawn into such a place- 
Probably the leading motive may have been 
a desire to please his friends and to gratify 
that class of the public who attend such 
amusements, by an occa^-ioual appearance in 
their midst. 

The other is, that he did not make a pub- 
lic profession of religion. This is an obli- 
gation binding upon all, the high and the 
low, the rich and the poor, the President 
and the citizen alike. It is a duty which 
he owed to his God and Savior, the neg.ect 
of which cannot be justified. That he did 
not discharge it is to be lamented, because 
he would, as an open, active and consistent 
member of the church of Christ, have hon- 
ored his profession ; and his usefulness to 
the cauj-e of God on earth would have been 
more extensive and benign. 

But whatever «ere the reasons which 
withheld him from making a public profes- 
sion of religion, it. is obvious that he was 
not inattentive to the duties of personal 
piety. In his Inaugural Addresses and .Mes- 
sages, he distinctly ami reverently acknowl- 
edged his dependence on God; and in his 
frequent calls upon the Nation to seek the 



3 



IV vine favor by humiliation and prayer, and 
te thank and praise God for victory, lie 
shower bis anxiety that the entire people 
shoul 1 1 e penetrated with a sense of our 
National dependence and obligations. There j 
are two facts, however, which, although I | 
have referred to them before under other 
circumstances. I must be permitted to refer 
to now as evidences of his piety. The one 
is a declaration from his own lips, and is 
distinct and unequivocal in its utterance. I 
will give it to you as it has been published : 

'• A gentleman having recently visited 
Washington on business with the President, 
was, on leaving home, requested by a friend 
t<> ask Mr. Lincoln whether he loved Jesus. 
The business being completed, the quest ion 
was kindly asked. The President buried 
his face in a handkerchief, turned away and 
wept. He then turned and said: — 'When I 
left my home to take this chair of State, 1 
requested my countrymen to pray for me : 1 
was not then a christian. When my boh 
died — the severest trial of my life— I was 
not a christian. Hut when 1 went to Get- 
tysburg and looked upon the graves of our 
dead herops who had fallen in defense of 
their country, I then and there consecrated 
myself to Christ. / do love Jesus.' " 

Th i other fact is the testimony of a gen- 
tleman, which 1 will give you in his own 
words: 

" Having business which led me to Wash- 
ington and demand an interview with the 
President, I called at his mansion to ascer- 
tain at what lime he could give me a hear- 
ing. His reply was that he would meet me 
the next morning at an hour as early as I 
pleased. W ishing him to designate the 
hour, he did so, naming five o'clock. It 
seemed a little strange to me that he would 
be able to see me so early; but 1 was satis- 
fied, and returned to my lodgings ; but the 
anxiety lest 1 should not awake in time pre- 
vented sleep. Morning at length came, and 
I hastened my toilet, and found myself at a 
quarter to five in the waiting room of the 
President. 1 asked the usher if [ could see 
Mr. Lincoln. He said I could not. But I 
have an engagement to meet him this morn- 
ing. At what hour? At five o'clock. "Well, 
sir, you will see him at five. I then walked 
to and fro a few minutes, and hearing a 
voice as if in grave conversation, I asked 
the servant : Who is talking in the next 



room ? It is ihe President, sir. Is anybody 
with him ? No, sir: he is reading the Bible. 
Is that his habit so early in the morning? 
Yes. sir : he spends every morning from four 
to five o'clock in reading the Scriptures and 
prayer. " 

Blessed be God for these gleams of heav- 
enly light, revealing to us the habits and 
feelings of our lamented President. He 
loved Jesus, the Divine and only Savior. 
He daily and devoutly sought comfort and 
support and guidance from God, in the 
study of his holy word and in secret prayer. 
He rose at the early hour of four o'clock, 
that he might devout the calm hour of the 
morning to communion with his Maker, and 
thus prepare his mind for the duties of the 
day. This was the secret of the clearness 
of his mind, the cheerfulness and hopeful- 
ness of his spirit, the calmness of his confi- 
dence in the darkest hours, and the strength 
of his position in the hearts of the people. 
Who is not reminded of that pious King 
who said : "My voice shalt thou hear in the 
morning, 0, Lord ; in the morning will I 
direct my prayers unto thee and will look 
up. Mine eyes prevented the night watches, 
that I might meditate in thy word." 

And this is the man that has (alien from 
his high place by a murderer's hand ! A 
praying President — a President who daily 
held intercourse with heaven — a President 
who sought guidance and grace for himself 
and blessings on the land at the foot of the 
throne ; — a President who loved Jesus, who 
was kind and considerate to the poorest and 
lowest that came into his presence, or sought 
his aid ; — a President who was so full of 
mercy and forgiveness towards his enemies, 
so pure a patriot, so worthy of the place to 
which God in his providence had elevated 
him ; — this is the man that the bullet of the 
assassin has reached, and over whose un- 
timely and violent end the Nation mourns 
to-day! He died in the midst of life and 
health— seated by the side of his wife — at a 
time of the most enraptured joy — a joy 
which he himself doubtless shared to the 
full ; and at a time, too, when the affections 



and hopes of llie Nation were centered 
more fully than ever upon him. lie had 
conducted the Nation through four years of 
peril and conspiracy and rebellion, and 
when the wilderness of suffering seemed 
almost passed, and the promised land of 
rest and peace already greeted his anxious, 
longing eyes, in that moment, in the myste- 
rious providence of God, the murdercns 
deed AVas done. He lies to-day in death, 
with millions for his mourners, — the martyr- 
ed President. 

II. The crime which has been committed 
in the murder of such a man, occupying 
such a position, is one of unparalleled atro- 
city. I know nothing that surpasses it, save 
only the murder of the Son of God. It is 
to stand out before the universe while time 
shall last, as the blackest deed which man 
ever committed against his fellow-man. It 
was not a mere act of revenge against 
Abraham Lincoln as an individual; but 
it was an attempt to murder a Nation in its 
head. The crime was against the Govern- 
ment which he administered ; against the 
principles which he represented ; against 
the law and order which he endeavored to 
maintain ; against the rights, the liberties, 
the hopes, the happiness, the prosperity of 
the whole people, of which Ahraiiam Lin- 
coln was the constitutional guardian. 

The intention to commit the crime has 
long existed in the same quarter. Four 
years ago, the abettors of treason in Balti- 
more plotted the murder of the President. 
And so well was it understood by the lead- 
ers, that it was confidently predicted by 
them that he would never reach Washington 
alive. And it was only through the timely 
discovery of the plot by his friends, that the 
infernal attempt failed at that time. 

Before the battle of Bull Run, a sec- 
ond conspiracy was formed to murder him 
and General Scott. And Beauregard, who 
was them commanding the Rebel army, was 
privy to the scheme. A letter of his, writ- 
ten at the time, not only alludes to this plot, 
but urges that it be promptly carried out. — 



But although! the daik and bloody plot fai/- 
ed twice, it has at length been successful. 
The Nation feels the blow, and every true 
heart bleeds, and feels that "a prince and a 
great man has fallen." 

Nor can we suppose, for a moment, that 
the monster who murdered the President, 
and the other assissin who attempted the 
life of the secretary of State, and their im- 
mediate accomplices in Washington, were 
the only persons concerned in the horrid 
scheme. Every circumstance indicates a 
wide-laid plot, in the interests of the great 
rebellion. We were told in the winter, by 
prisoners nnd refugees from Richmond, that 
something was about to be done that would 
astonish the world; and rebel correspond- 
ents in the London papers intimated that 
something tremendous and unlooked for 
would ere long happen, — that if they were 
beaten in the field, there were other mean? 
which would be resorted to, and which they 
hoped would accomplish their ends. Now 
it is true that these utterances are somewhat 
vague and oracular; but they are not, there- 
fore, without meaning. And does not their 
meaning begin to flash upon us in the light 
of the tragedies enaeted and attempted at 
Washington ? The "something that was to 
astonish the world" has, at least in part, 
been carried out according to the pro' 
gramme. 

I would not be understood as asserting it 
as a fact, and yet I cannot avoid the convic- 
tion, that th s diabolical scheme of murder 
was known to the rebel leaders, or at least 
to some of them. It is the crowning act of 
a long series of crimes tl*e most desperate 
and villainous that ever blackeued the an- 
nals of time. The actors were but the 
agents and representatives of the savage 
spirit of Slavery driven to the last pitch of 
rage and fury by overwhelming defeat in 
every quarter. 

It is a deep disgrace that such a deed 
could be perpetrated in our land. France 
has had her Infernal Machine, and her fre- 
quent attempts on the lives of her sovereigns. 



and her Reign of Terror; anil we have felt 
that these deed were to be accounted for by 
the infidelity that prevails. But in this 
land of the pi<»us Pilgrims, the land of 
Washington;— in this land of Bibles and of 
the Sabbath and the Sanctuary,— this land 
of Christian civilization, it was thought that 
such an event could not take place. That 
such a murder should blacken the annals of 
our country fills us with shame, as well as 
with grief and horror. But this infamy be- 
longs not to our whole country, but to the 
Rebellion and its animating soul, Slavery: 
of whose cruel and barbarous spirit this act 
of murder is one of the natural (ruits. It 
Is the same inhuman wickedness, only lev- 
eled at a higher and more shining mark. 
which wrought into ornaments the bones of 
our soldiers who fell at Bull Ban : which 
organized a scheme to burn our northern 
cities, and to fire hotels, in which hundreds 
of persons were Bleeping; which slaughtered 
our soldiers after they had surrendered, at 
Fort Pillow ; which tortured and butchered 
and starved our noblemen in Libby Prison, 
and Belle Isle, and Castle Thunder, and 
Andersonville and Salisbury. That this 
dreadful deed is the ripened fruit of rebel 
hatred and revenge cannot be doubted. It 
is what the leaders desired, and multitudes of 
others wished for; and with a knowledge of 
the future, apparently ;>s infallible as that 
of the ancient seers, they confidently and 
unblushiugly predicted it. 

And may it not be s:iid, that many at the 
North have, by their words at least, lent 
encouragement to the treason and rebellion 
that have thus culminated? They did not 
plan the deed, they were not coguizant to 
the infernal plot, but they showed in many 
ways that their sympathies were with the 
traitors, in whatever they did, or might 
attempt: they palliated their crimes against 
the Government; their whole course helped 
to nerve the arm that drew the fatal trigger. 
"What can we say of that grand conspiracy 
of the Knights of the Golden Circle, but 
that they are desperate men, aiding and 



abetting the rebellion with all its horrors, 
and ready for any deed of blood, by which 
the Government may be overthrown ; — 
pledged, according to the testimony of some 
of their officers, to murder the officers of 
the Government and of the Army, as well as 
all soldiers and citizens who stand in their 
way? And has not language been used in 
almost every community, — even in our own, 
— not only by men. but by women, which 
embodied a wish for the very event which 
has occurred. Has not a portion of the 
northern press counselled to violent deeds ? 

There are those at the North, then, that 
have a weighty responsibility to bear in this 
great crimes. In the sight of Heaven, they 
are sharers in the awful guilt of this murder. 

III. My hearers, there is a Providence 
that rules in the affairs of men. In permit- 
ting the murder of our beloved President, 
God must have some wise designs to accom- 
plish. What these designs may be, it is 
not for us at present fully to know. Our 
duty is to be still and know that he is God ; 
to bow submissively under his mighty hand ; 
to rest assured that not a sparrow falls, nor 
a hair from any head, without his knowl- 
edge ; that he is able to make the wrath of 
man to praise him, and to restrain the 
remainder. May not one of the reasons be 
this : 

1st. To deepen our abhorrence of the rebel- 
lion. Just at this point, may it not have be- 
come necessary, in the judgment of God, to 
open our eyes more widely to the character 
of the men with whom we have to deal, and 
to the spirit by which they are actuated? 
May not God have allowed this illustration 
of the spirit and character of this foul con- 
spiracy against liberty and good government 
to take place, iu order that the whole world 
may see its desperate wickedness, and stamp 
it with everlasting infamy? that the last 
feeling of sympathy with it, both at home 
and abroad, may be utterly and forever de- 
stroyed ? Who can ever again have the face 
to speak one word in favor of a rebellion, 
that resorts to such means to reach its ends? 



6 



Even among the most devoted friends of 
the Government, I think there was danger 
that the crimes of Treason, Rebellion, and 
Murder would be treated too leniently; and 
that their enormity would be overlooked to 
a great extent, as soon as the war power of 
the rebels was broken. There is a leaning 
ing in the human mind to palliate crime, 
and to set aside the claims of justice; and 
some falsely suppose that this is a dictate of 
piety. But treason, rebellion, and murder 
are crimes of crimson dye, — the greatest 
crimes that men can commit against the 
rights and interests of seciety ; and God, in 
his wise and holy sovereignty, is engraving 
this lesson on the heart and conscience of 
this Nation now. 

Our Government is the wisest, the mildest, 
the best which has ever existed on earth. — 
Its privileges and blessings have been pur- 
chased by the best blood that ever flowed in 
human veins. Under it we were prosperous 
and happy beyond a parallel, and taking a 
high place among the Nations of the earth. 
Now look at the end proposed by this Re- 
bellion. It is nothing less than the destruc- 
tion of American liberty, and of free gov- 
ernment on this vast continent. If any of 
you doubt this, listen to a few of the utter- 
ance of southern Statesmen. Said a Geor- 
gia Senator on the floor of Congress: 

" Drive the Black Republicans from the 
Temple i.f Liberty, or pull down its pillars, 
and involve him in a common ruin." 

Here we have the design of the rebellion 
clearly and frankly stated. 

Said a South Carolina Representative : — 

''We have the issue now upon us, and 
how are we to meet it? Just to tear the 
Constitution of the United Slates, trample 
it under foot, and form a Southern Confed- 
eracy, every State of which shall be a slave- 
holding State." 

And what said Mr. Stephens, as to the 
object of the rebellion, at a time when he 
was opposing it? The object is, h 3 says : — 

" The overthrow of the American Gov- 
ernment, established by our common ances- 
try, cemented and built by their sweat and 
blood, and founded on the broad principles 



of right, justice and humanity. And as 
such, I must declare here, as I have often 
done before, and which has been repeated 
by the greatest and wisest of Statesmen and 
patriots in this and other lands, that it is the 
best and the freest government, — the most 
equal in its rights, the most just in its deeis- 
sions, the mast lenient in its measures, and 
the most inspiring in its principles to ele- 
vate the race of man, that the sun of heaven 
ever shone upon." 

And now, my hearers, how are we to look 
upon the leaders in such a work as this ? 
Are we to regard with indulgent lenity the 
men who, through four years of bloody 
war. have striven to rend in pieces the bond 
of our Union, pull down the Temple of Lib- 
erty, and convulse the country in ruin ? — 
No, no, xo ! Their crime is like that 
which cast the angels out of heaven. No 
words of man can express its enormity. No 
punishment which man can inflict is com- 
mensurate with the crime. 

And superadded to this, look at the per- 
jury of men in office at the beginning of 
the war, holding places of honor, and trust, 
and emolument under the Government : 
look at the robbery, the treason they have 

! committed, the blood they have shed on the 
battle-field, and the sufferings of our pris- 
oners who fell iuto their hands. Can you 

! read the testimony of these prisoners ; can 
you look upon these shattered wrecks 
of men with their sunken eyes, and hard 
and shriveled and ashy skins, and wasted 
forms ; can you behold these starved and 
fleshless, yet living skeletons; can you hear 
them tell the pitiful story of their fearful 
wrongs and suflering, and not feel your 
blood grow hot like tire in your veins? Can 
yon read or hear their tale of woe, and not 
feel every nerve in your body quiver with 
agony and indignation ? If you can, your 
temperament is cooler than mine. And 
shall the authors of these miseries go un- 
punished? Forbid it justice! Forbid it, 
every right, and true, and patriotic, and 
christian principle ! 

The whole world ought to understand the 
diabolical spirit of this rebellion, and of the 



men who led it. Our rulers ought to under- 
stand it. They should have deeply wrought 
into their souls a sense of the duty laid 
upon them, as ministers of justice and of 
God, bearing not the sword in vain, to 
crush such iniquities and to make the pun- 
ishment as broad, as signal, and as conspic- 
uous as the crime. 

It is a sin against God and humanity, to 
be in the slightest degree indifferent to such 
crimes or lukewarm as to their punishment. 
The deepest peril, present and future, must 
environ a people, who can calmly form their 
policy to conciliate the authors of such ' 
enormities. The very foundations of mor- 
rality and justice must be undermined when i 
this can occur. God, in his awful Provi- 
dence, is speaking loudly to us in this mat- I 
ter now. This last deed of the rebellion 
speaks to us in trumpet tones ; it assures us 
that this demon spirit cannot be cast out by 
mildness and clemency, nor subdued by for- 
giveness. It needs sterner treatment. 

2d. May not God, by permitting this 
murder of our good and kind President, 
intend to lead us all to a juster view of the 
system of slavery? It was the malignant 
spirit of the slave system that struck down 
the President of the United States. It is 
this that has brought upon us all the hor- 
rors of this long and fearful war. The pur- ' 
pose and chief end of the rebellion was to 
establish a government that should extend 
and perpetuate human slavery. They put 
everything they possessed in the straggle to 
support and strengthen that system, which 
they intended should be their foundation of 
greatness. But they miscalculated the 
providence of God. Instead of strengthen- 
ing and perpetuating, they have destroyed 
it forever. 

As a system passing away, I need not 
dwell upon its unrighteousness, upon the 
wrongs and oppressions of its innocent vic- 
tims. 1 wish simply to draw your attention 
to its demonizing effect upon the masters. 
It is this that has steeled their hearts to the 
claims of humanity and justice, and made 



them what they are. The atrocities comit- 
ted through long years upon the black 
race prepared them to act the part they 
have acted during the war. It was the 
hardening process through which the south- 
ern heart had gone, that made them insensi- 
ble to the sufferings of our prisoners in 
their hands ; that led them to starve and 
murder them, to taunt and abuse them, to 
rob them of their clothing and leave them 
to suffer from cold and nakedness and dis- 
ease, to shoot them as wild beasts when 
the came to the window-bars of their pris- 
ons to breathe the air of heaven, and to 
bury them with the burial of dogs. It was 
this that led them to commit such awful 
cruelties upon their own neighbors, and 
fellow-citizens, whose only offense was that 
they refused to join with them in the de- 
struction of the Government and the over- 
throw of Liberty. These barbarities few 
have regarded in their just light. But this 
last terrible act in the appalling drama, 
shows us what the true spirit of Slavery is ; 
that we are fighting with demons, made so 
by the crimes and cruelties they have so 
long practiced upon the defenceless beingB 
who were under their power. Slavery has 
destroyed their moral sentiments: made 
them haughty and self-willed, unfeeling 
and revengeful ; taught them to undervalue 
the lives and happiness of their fellow-men; 
familiarized them to blood, and cruelty, and 
wrong; seared their consciences, and mad- 
dened them to strike down every institu- 
tion, and every man, be his situation what 
it might, that stood in the way of the ex- 
tension and perpetuity of their horrible sys- 
tem. Who will not say to-day, that it is 
time that the system which breeds such 
monsters were swept from our country and 
from the civilized world ? 

3d. May not another reason why God 
permitted the event we so deeply mourn, 
be to draw our affections still more to our 
country ? It was purchased by us by the 
toils, and sacrifices, and blood of the heroes 
of the Revolution. It has just been bap- 



tized afresh by the blood of its noblest pat- 
riots : and everywhere its soil has become 
sacred with their honored graves. And as 
though all this were not enough to endear 
our country to us forever, its soil has now 
been wet with the blood of its martyred 
President. Surely this is enough. Shall 
not these sacrifices stir up every heart to 
loyalty and patriotism? Shall not every 
one feel that the Union, which has cost so 
dearly, "must and shall be preserved f" 

We trust the day of peace is dawning, 
and that a bright future awaits us ; and 
that our children, to the latest generation, 
will bless our memory for the inheritance of 
freedom which, by God's great goodness, we 
shall be permitted to leave them ; and that 
they will faithfully guard the sacred legacy. 

4th. Another thought and I shall close: 
God in this great calamity, is teaching us 
the vanity of earthly greatness. It would 
be difficult to conceive of any combination 
of circumstances better adapted to impress 
a people with the vanity of all things earth- 
ly, than those in which death has now i 
achieved his conquest. He who has fallen 
occupied the very pinacle of society — the 
highest place on earth. He had attained ! 
the utmost that a lawful ambition could de- 
sire. But while his glories were yet fresh ! 
upon him, the destroyer came. Scarcely ! 
had the intelligence of his second inaugu- 
ration spread through the land, ere his 



earthly career was finished, and his soul 
was summoned to the bar of God. We look 
back but a few weeks, and read the record 
of that day, and survey the scene of splen- 
dor and of joy, and hear the shouts of the 
assembled multitudes ; and while we look 
and listen, already the vision has faded 
away like a dream. President Lincoln is 
no more ! And now, instead of acclama- 
tions of joy, we hear the dirge of woe ; 
instead of the triumphal procession, we see 
the funeral train ! What sad countenances 
we behold ! What melancholy greetings, 
what tolling bells, what badges and voices 
of mourning throughout the land ! One 
great funeral pall has been let down, as if it 
were, by the four corners from heaven ; and 
it rests upon the whole nation. 

Who can reflect upon the change of these 
few weeks, without feeling how vain, and 
empty, and evanescent are the highest honors 
that the world can give? God is speaking 
to us to-day in solemn tones. He is remind- 
ing us that " all flesh is grass, and all the 
glory of man as the flower of the grass.'' 
We know not where, or when, or how death 
may meet us. It may be in the bosom of 
our family, or it may be abroad among 
strangers : it may be by lingering sickness, 
or the lightning's flash, or the assassin's 
hand. Let us so live, that come he as he 
may, we shall be prepared for the momen- 
tous change. 



